A Dark Past
by GreenNatureGirl
Summary: the story of Toph's unknown dark past... how will the group react to her gruesome past? can Toph find comfort in someone least expected? read to find out!... toko!
1. A Dark Past Chapter 1

A Dark Past: Chapter 1  
>Set after episode 12 season 3 "The Western Air Temple". Zuko has been allowed to join the gang.<br>Summary: Just as everyone gets settled at the western air temple a messenger hawk finds them with a message for Toph. The message tells her to be at her home in three days or something "bad" will happen. Will the gang make it on time, and what will be waiting for them when they arrive?

*Toph's POV*  
>I was resting with my feet in the fountain and the sun warming my skin when the messenger hawk came. I felt it land beside me, obviously delivering whatever it was carrying to me, which is pretty stupid of the sender considering I can't read or write. I mean, duh! I'm blind!<br>"Katara!" I yelled.  
>I knew she was around here somewhere, and even if she didn't come I knew someone else would. I felt light footsteps over to my right. They were definitely Katara's because Zuko and Sokka had heavier footsteps and Aang had the lightest because of the whole Airbender thing.<br>"What is it, Toph?" She asked.  
>"A messenger hawk came to me, could you read the message for me?" I moved aside a bit so she could see the bird and take the message. Oh great, I thought. I could feel the others coming up behind us to see what's going on. Now whatever is in that message will be broadcast to the whole group. Great.<br>"Of course, Toph" Katara said, as she reached for the message. As she started to read a cold numbness crept up my spine.  
>"Toph Bei Fong, you are to return to your home in the Earth Kingdom immediately. If you are not there within two days… Well, let's just say that bad things will happen. Always remember, Toph, that you are mine. You will always be mine."<br>I could see or rather feel everyone look up at me. There was only one question on my mind.  
>"Is it signed?" I can feel her nod. "with what?"<br>" Your friend from the Firenation" she whispers, and with that one stupid sentence everything inside me shattered.  
>How could he have found me? I wondered, why would he want to find me? A million questions were flying through my head. I clenched my fists, anger and fear swelling up inside of me. I could feel the whole temple shake along with me.<br>"Toph?" I could feel someone's hand on my shoulder.  
>I shook it off. "What?" I manage to ground out from my teeth.<br>"Are you okay?" Katara asked. I look away.  
>"Yeah, perfect." I said, with a forced smile, but I could tell that I wasn't fooling anyone.<br>"What does this Firenation person want with you, Toph?" Aang asks.  
>"It doesn't matter." I said bitterly, hopping they'd stop asking questions.<br>"Yes, it does matter. Considering someone from Firenation, which happens to be filled with our enemies, at least, the last time I checked, no offence Zuko, anyway, someone from there is sending you creepy messages. That sounds kinda important to me!" Sokka says.  
>That's it. I think<br>"Its personal!" I yelled, swinging my feet over the side of the fountain, and jumping to the ground, ignoring the pain from my feet from the burns Zuko gave me, and walking away.

"Toph!" Katara yelled after me. I stopped a few feet away, and pointed in the direction of Appa.  
>"Can I go now?" Yeah, I know, a stupid question seeing as I can't 'drive' Appa.<br>"I'm not letting you go alone!" One of the guys said.  
>"Me neither!" Declared Aang<br>"We'll all go with you, Toph. You know we will." Katara said sounding suddenly very gentle.  
>"Thanks" I mumbled.<br>I could feel the shock go through them when I actually said thank you, but thankfully Sokka kept whatever sarcastic remark we all know he wanted to make to himself.  
>As we got on Appa, and Aang said "Yip yip", I knew that what's deep down inside me, that deep, dark secret that's eating away at my insides, threatening to consume me, fighting to get out, the dark thing that takes all my strength to keep inside each day, that dark thing that I hate so much, would break out, and be set free. Soon.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! this is the updated version! all my chapters will be formatted and updated with lots of help from CrazyDyslexicNerd. thanks so much for your help!<strong>


	2. A Dark Past Chapter 2

**A Dark Past**

**Chapter 2**

***Toph's POV***

"We're not going to make it if we spend a whole night here!" I say. Its already been a little over one day and we're not even halfway there and Katara wants to stop and rest. Yeah well I don't need rest! I just need to get there!

"Toph we're trying, but we also need to rest." Katara says with her little miss know it all voice. I'm about to give some snide remark when the person I least expect to speak up for me says

"Shes right Katara we need to keep going if we want to make it on time"

"you don't get a say in the matter Zuko" she says back.

"Oh and why not Katara? Don't all group members get a say in the matter? And last time I checked we all agreed on him being in the group, even you SugarQueen." I challenge.

"Toph... Appa does need to rest..." Aang says.

"Humf." I say and cross my arms over my chest and sit back down in the saddle with a thump. "Once again Little Mrs. Perfect gets what she wants and Toph gets thrown to the outside" I mumble under my breath. I can here Zuko chuckle softly beside me. I punch him lightly (my standards)

"ouch" he says rubbing his arm. Laughing a bit more he punches me lightly back.

"Oh its on now" I say laughing with him and then pulling his hair. Hes about to pull my hair back when Katara clears her throat obviously her hint for us to stop.

"Oh lighten up SugarQueen your no fun"I say jumping off Appa who landed in a small-ish clearing. "somebody better wake up Sokka before fly's make a home in his mouth" I yell over my shoulder as I go to explore the woods around us.

***Zuko's POV***

I really wanted to go after her. To just walk with her. Talk with her. Shes the only one I feel truly comfortable around. I can tell the others really don't like me. Especially Katara, who's always watching me, even more so when I'm around Toph. She looks at me like I'm going to hurt the little blind girl. I wouldn't though. Not her. Its even hard to think about hurting her, and I've only known her for what? Two or so days? While Toph was gone I helped Aang train. About an hour later Toph was still not back and I was getting worried but no one else seemed worried. And then finally she came out of the woods... dripping wet?

"what happened to you?" Katara asked disapprovingly.

" I found a stream..." she stated.

" but umm... Toph you cant swim and you hate water" Sokka said

"it was shallow... and i kinda slipped on a wet rock..." i could see she was slightly embarrassed but then she, Sokka and Aang all started laughing. Its like Toph's laugh is contagious because I cant help but laughing with them... which only left ,guess who, Katara not laughing.

"Toph! Its not funny! Those are your only cloths and now they're soaked!" Toph made a dismissive sort of sound and came and sat by the fire where I was. Katara came storming up behind her and out of the corner of my eyes i could see Sokka and Aang inching away bit by bit.

"go build yourself a tent, give me your cloths so I can hang them over the fire, you can stay in there until they are dry."

"who do you think you are? My mom?"

"if i was your mom i would have already killed myself" Katara replied bitterly.

" well then i guess your lucky then huh?" Toph said with a smile to purposely make Katara even more mad. That made me smile. Katara let out an exasperated sort of scream.

" whats wrong with you?" Toph asked even though she already knew.

"you! You stubbornly stupid emotionless heartless useless blind little girl!" Katara yelled. Toph stiffened and Sokka gasped.

"Katara!" Aang yelled.

"We're all thinking it!" Katara yelled back. But I wasn't really paying attention to them. I couldn't take my eyes off Toph. I could hear the others yelling at each other but it was if it was all dulled and all I could see was the tear that fell from beneath her bangs and off her chin. She stood up and ran into the woods, grabbing her bag on the way.


	3. A Dark Past Chapter 3

**A Dark Past**

**Chapter 3**

***Toph's POV***

I knew we weren't far from a city. My home city. It was probably right through these woods, I just hope I'm going the right way.

"Toph! Toph come back! Toooooph!" I can hear Zuko stomping through the woods after me. No way is he going to make me go back there. I already know where I'm going. Finally. I can hear the sounds of the city. And Zuko probably took a wrong turn or circled back because his shouts are fading. As soon as I'm in the city I head towards the underground arena in the trashy end of the city where all the drunks, drug dealers, and prostitutes are. And also the underground earthbending tournaments. As soon as I walked into the tournament sign ups everyone went silent. I walked up to the desk and gave them the name "Blind Bandit". When I said it everyone exploded in cheers and whistles. I could see some people run out the door to spread the news.

"I'm guessing that you know the rules?" the man at the registration table said with a grin.

" yeah" I answer

"your on in half an hour." he says

"thanks." I say and head off to get prepared.

***Zuko's POV***

When I ran back to camp where everyone is still yelling at each other totally oblivious to what happened to Toph . "guys!" I yell trying to get their attention. No such luck. "guys! Hey guys!" stupid people. "GUYS!" I scream at the top of my lungs. Everyone stops to stare at me. "Toph's gone" I say breathlessly.

"Who cares?" Katara says.

"we should!" I yell. God don't these people get it? Shes out there on her own with firenation people,-my people, I remind myself- sending her creepy messages. 7

" she might have gone to the city on the other side of the woods" Aang says obviously trying to change the subject, not wanting to get Katara any angrier.

"then what are we waiting for? we need to go find her!" I say motioning towards Appa. Aang and Sokka nod and start getting on Appa. I get on Appa and look back to find Katara with her arms crossed over her chest shaking her head.

"Katara get on." Aang says.

"no" she answers turning away.

I'm about to loose it and totally freak out at her when to my surprise Aang's the one to freak and yell " GOD KATARA IM SO FEED UP WITH THIS! JUST SHUT UP AND GET ON SO WE CAN GO FIND TOPH, MAKE SURE SHES OKAY AND FIX THIS MESS THAT YOU MADE!" Sokka's jaw drops and all colour drains from Katara's face as she wordlessly does as Aang said.

oOo

We landed Appa just outside the city and started combing the streets looking for any signs of Toph. Thankfully for the most part Katara stayed quiet. I was getting more worried by the second when Sokka points to a bunch of people crowded around a sign and says "hey whats going on there?". I head over and ask the closest person to me whats happening.

" its the Blind Bandit. Shes back and fighting tonight!" without saying another word I turn to the others. " Blind Bandit, isn't that...?" I ask.

" yea Toph's fighting name." Aang says " and by the looks of that sign the fights about to start,so lets get over there and fast." and with that we ran to the arena, and made it in just in time for the last fight. Toph's fight.

" And now what you've all been waiting for the fight between our present champ the Bone Crusher, and our all time favourite ultimate champ the one! The only!... BLIND BANDIT!" and with that I see Toph walk out of a tunnel on the left side of the arena and a man like twenty times the size of her out of the right tunnel and the crowd – Sokka included- exploded in cheers, hoot and hollers. Toph and the man immediately went into fighting stances

"you sure you dont want to back down now little girl?" the Bone Crusher asked her. Uh oh hes in for it now.

" little girl my ass. I bet I can have you out of this ring in twenty second tops" she says challengingly.

"deal" he says

"Kay if I win, which I will, you have to give me three-hundred gold pieces." she says.

" and if I win you have to... Marry me!" the Bone Crusher replies.

"ohhhhhh" the crowd murmurers even more intrigued.

"ohh come on Toph say no!" I say while Aang looks on worriedly.

"deal" she says. Oh crap.

"well at least if she loses we wont have to deal with her anymore" Katara says hopefully. Aang, Sokka and I all glare daggers at her and she shuts up.

"okay the clock starts... NOW!" the announcer shouts and the twenty second starts. Time seems to slow down as the Bone Crusher sends a huge slab of rock towards Toph which she easily dodges. With a flick of her hand a huge pillar of earth pops up from underneath the Bone Crusher and sends him flying out of the ring just as the clock hits the fifteen second mark. The Gang lets out a sigh of relief -except for Katara- as Toph takes the belt and a bag of money from the Bone Crusher and walks out of the ring with the chant of "Blind Bandit" from the crowd following her. We all -the gang- get up and push our way through the crowd after her but once we made it outside we lost her in the busy street.

* * *

><p><strong>hey guys sorry it took so long i've been really busy... but here it is and i hope you like it :) please R&amp;R! and to all you firebenders out there feel free to "burn" my story because anything to help me make it better is always welcome and needed - hehe like my ATLA reference? :) - chap 4 coming soon :) oh and all the dark past stuff will be coming out in the next couple of chapters! dont you just love being made to wait on the edge of your seat for the truly good stuff? yea well neither do i! so since all those other peeps get to do it i figured i should be able to to! :) <strong>

**bye-bye and peace :D**


	4. A Dark Past Chapter 4

**A Dark Past**

**Chapter 4**

***Toph's POV***

I knew that the rest of the gang were there at the earth rumble, I could just feel their closeness... and I could hear Sokka's stupid cheering and yelling. I wanted to go to them, back to aggravating Katara, the peace-keeping Aang, Stupid Sokka, and Zuko... him especially. He makes me feel like I'm not an outcast. Like he understands me. Just thinking about him makes me want to run back to them and bury myself in his,what im guessing is warm,embrace. But I cant. I have somewhere I have to be. Crap they're coming my way. Time to go. I rush out the tunnel into the busy street, and turn to go left down the street. Halfway to my destination someone grabs my arm.

"Hey babe... I saw you at earth rumble... you need a place to say?" he purrs obviously drunk. I'm about to give one of my trademark sarcastic remarks, when I feel another strong arm slide around my shoulder

"Sorry bud, but shes taken." says the familiar voice attached to the arm around my shoulder. I grin as he pulls me through the streets to a bar.

"Couldn't wait for me to get here Sen?" I say.

"Nope" he replies with a smile in his voice. I laugh as he sits across from me at the bar table. "What do you want?" he asks as a waitress comes by for our orders.

" just give me the strongest you got." I say feeling reckless and even though im under age in places like this they dont give two shits about who their selling to as long as they get money. He nods and orders something for himself then turns to me.

" So you got my letter and remember the codes." Sen says. The letter being the one I got at the Western Air Temple, the codes being, 'home' the bar, 'your mine' what he wants to talk about, and the fire nation symbol is our little code for him.

"Yeah, I'm here aren't I?" I say.

He just shrugs and says "So how are you doing?". Grr...

"Cut the crap, and tell me what your here to tell me. I don't have long or the others might find me." I growl taking a huge swig of my drink. Holy shit it is strong stuff, but oh well it tastes pretty good.

He sighs. "Toph I'm trying okay? I still need more money before I can even think about going to the Firenation never mind the Fire Lord himself!" I can already feel myself losing hope. I finish off my drink and order another one.

"The closer Sozin's Comet gets the stronger the call gets and the weaker I get. I can't take it much longer! I can't bend for as long as I usually can. I'm getting headaches and I'm losing my appetite and anything I do eat I throw up a bit later." as I say this I can hear my voice rising.

"Toph the comet wont be here for another week... I'm trying my hardest, I truly am." he says suddenly sounding very tired.

" I know Sen and I'm sorry, its just that if I don't break the bond soon I'm going to have to either go back or I'm going to die... " I choke out the last part. I don't want to die.

" I think you should just go back Toph..." he says softly. What? Did he really just say that?

I slam my glass down on the table. " Go back! GO BACK! I can't go back there!" I yell at him. I can feel some of the more sober people turn to look at us before going back to their drinks.

"Toph! Calm down! All you have to do is go back until the comet passes and hopefully the avatar will defeat the fire lord then you'll be free." he says calmly. How can he be so calm about this?

" Calm down? No! If i go back there he'll... he'll... I don't even want to think about what he'll do to me! If I'm lucky he'll slowly cut me to bits and kill me, and I would happily take it to. It would be the least painful thing he could do!" I say. My mind is racing going through all the torture and things he could do to me. I can only imagine what I look like to Sen, a crazy person probably. Hes about to say something, but I'm not done. My voice sinks into a low growl. " He's been rapeing me since I was seven. There is no way in hell I'm going back there without a fight, hell the only way you'll get me there is dead. I would rater die than go back!" and with that I take the last swallow of my drink,grab my bag and stalk out of the bar. When I get outside its raining. God that will only add to my mad woman look. " Toph its okay. Your going to be okay." I say to myself. "great now I'm talking to myself. Grrr! There I just did it again!" I say stumbling down the street.

"There she is!Toph! Toph wait!" I can hear someone (Zuko?) call my name and can hear four sets of footsteps start running after me.

"no no no no no!" I say under my breath and start running, my bare feet splashing water everywhere. They can't see me like this. I take a random turn into an ally, pushing myself to run harder. But being drunk doesn't help and I trip and fall face-first right into a puddle. I let out a yelp of surprise, and before I have a chance to get up again they are by my side. Zuko reaches for my arm and pulling me to my feet

"Toph-" he starts but I cut him off by roughly yanking my arm from his grasp and yelling "Don't touch me!" I hold my arm to my chest as if its been burned and start backing up.

"Toph..." Aang says reaching for me.

"Leave me alone." I growl.

"Toph we heard what happened at the bar... we want to help you." Katara says gently.

"But first we need to know whats going on." Sokka says.

I glare at Katara. "Why would you want to help me? I'm just a thorn in your side." I say.

" Toph I'm sorry... I didn't mean the things I said." I just snort at that.

"Come back to camp Toph and rest. You've had a long night." Aang says. What else can I do? I have no where else to go. So I simply nod.

oOo

When I woke up the next morning in camp I had a massive hangover, and I noticed two things. One, I wasn't in a tent. And two, everyone was staring at me."What?" I groaned, sitting up. And immediately regretted it. "Okay bad idea." I groaned again, laying back down. Katara came over and put her hand on my head and took the pain away with her healing. I sighed happily. "Thanks" I say. She hands me a bowl of porridge, but I just shake my head and push it away saying "If you heard what I said at the bar, it'll just come back up in an hour or so. Its a waste of food." I say. I can feel them all look at each other, and Aang nod at Katara.

"Toph... who was that boy?" she asks. I sigh and sit up again, rubbing my face. I knew this was going to happen since last night when they said they heard my conversation with Sen. And all the way back to camp I was mentally preparing myself for this. To tell them about the dark secret of my past. It was going to be set free.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! hope you all like this chapter. the next few chapters you will not want to miss! plz R&amp;R! thnaks! :) oh and a thanks lynnedreamcatcher for all the help! <strong>


	5. A Dark Past Chapter 5

**A Dark Past**

**Chapter 5**

***Toph's POV***

I don't really want to tell them. No scratch that. I don't want to tell them at all. I wonder what they will do if I told them to just leave me alone. Oh whats the use? They would only keep bugging the hell outta me until I told them. So here it goes. I take a deep breath to calm my self down a bit before I start. " His name is Sen, and he's one of my oldest friends. But I guess you want to know whats really going on not just about Sen, am I right?" I can feel Katara shift into what I guess is a more comfortable sitting position and nod.

"If its about firenation and someone rap-... hurting you, then yes we want to know." I could hear her hesitate and change her wording when she said about someone hurting me. And the whole time she was staring,most likely glaring, Zuko's way. Who, which I now noticed, is sitting on the other side of the fire with the others sitting between me and him.

"Fine but I should start from the beginning" I say " so first of all the Bei Fong's aren't my parents. My real mom died giving birth to me, and my dad took every chance he got to make sure I knew it was my fault she was dead. He could barely look at me because it was my fault. One day he took me to Ba Sing Se. While we were there I was watching" I make air quotes with my fingers when I say the word watching. "one of the earth benders on the street putting on a little puppet show for the kids. But I guess that was the day my father decided he was sick of having me around, so he walked off into the crowd and just left me there. We lived in a small town outside of Ba Sing Se and I was six so I had no clue how to get home, so I just wandered around the city for a couple of days until Sen and his gang found me half starving in a back alley. They all lived on the streets to, but they knew how to do it. They took me in and became my family. I was by far the youngest and the only girl, and they did their best to take care of me, well the best that a group of twelve year old boys can do for a little girl. They taught me how to gamble, steal and fight dirty." I smile at the memory of our little fighting classes in the back alleys " I was the only girl in the gang but to them I was just one of the guys, but they still protected me the best they could. I was also the only bender in the group, so when they heard about the Earth Rumble's and that you could win money they got me in and as you know I won them. We had our money, our rep, and our territory. And we were getting cocky. On my seventh birthday we decided that we were going to brake into a firenation ship that docked in the bay and get our self's some stuff. We thought it was going to be simple all we had to do was get in, get our stuff and get out. It didn't quite work that way. On our way out the guards caught a few of us. Thankfully Sen got out but I on the other hand didn't. Getting cheated out by a bunch of kids really pissed off the firenation so off to the fire lord we went. We got VIP seats and all. Despite getting caught it was still my birthday and the others got away with the stuff so I was still happy and totally oblivious to the fact that we were in huge trouble. Mr. High and Mighty Fire Lord went down the line of us giving us our punishments, whippings here, hard labour there, and when he got to me I something along the lines of personal slave. I told him that I was to busy with practising for Earth Rumble and doing official business with the gang and being a fat old man like himself that he should use the exercise and get his food all on his own. And then I spit in his face." I laughed at that memory " Oh I was, and still am, quite proud of myself for that one until my arm got hit with fire and I got drug away by my hair down a bunch of stairs and thrown into a wet smelling cell. After that I got personal visits from him each day bringing some new form of torture." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes just thinking about it. No no no I can't get emotional I can't. Not now. I dont know how but i manage to stop them.

"Oh Toph..." Katara says taking my hand and pulling me into a hug. I push her away before it turns into a real hug.

"Whatever." I say shifting away from her.

"Toph your with us now, he cant get you any more." Katara says.

"It doesn't matter if hes near me. He made me drink this stuff that somehow connected me to him. Hes taking my energy and my bending. And I can't eat or I throw it up an hour or so later and when I do finally fall asleep he's there." I bring my knees up to my chest and rest my head on my knees. I can feel everyone's attention shift to Zuko.

"Why the hell did you agree to have him in the group then?" Katara says with her voice dripping with venom.

" Twinkle Toe's needed a firebending teacher." I say simply

"so what we could have found another one!" Katara says with her voice rising. " Katara he's not his father. All of you have to stop judging him because of who his father is! If he was like his father I would probably have another firenation symbol burned into my back and up my legs. But I don't have any more than what I left with." I say.

"you have firenation symbols burned on you?" Aang asks questioningly. I nod.

" can we se- " Sokka asks but is cut off by Katara covering his mouth. But I already know what the was going to ask. So I roll up the legs of my pants and lift up my shirt just enough to show my back and stomach. I can hear them gasp. I have seven fist sized firenation symbols on each of my legs and and two huge ones on my back and stomach. And then finally I lift up my bangs to show one,probably the size of a small marble, on my forehead close to my hair line so its not visible behind my bangs. While everyone's in shock I take the chance to end the conversation and walk to the other side of camp and using a lot of effort I make a smaller than usual earth tent and crawl inside closing the door behind me. I lay down knowing sleep won't come without the fire lord. I don't even try to sleep. I just lay there staring at the wall.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys!soo this is chapter five... i hope its good... plz R&amp;R! i already have chapter six done and will post it in like a day or two... <strong>

**bye-bye for now!**


	6. A Dark Past Chapter 6

**A Dark Past **

**Chapter 6**

*Zuko's POV*

I gasped in shock seeing all the firenation symbols burned into Toph's skin. I mean I knew my father was a monster but torture and rape? To a seven year old girl? A seven year old blind girl? And for her to except me into the group after what he did to her? How can someone that young be so strong? And what makes it worse is that I think that I might actually have feelings for her. How could she ever trust me in that way after what that monster did to her? I need to talk to her. I stand up and start walking toward her tent.

" Where the hell do you think your going?" Katara turns to me glaring. I can see that behind her Sokka and Aang have the same looks on their faces.

"I need to talk to her..." I answer.

"No you don't. And you won't." Sokka says in a brotherly protective way.

"I never liked you. Ever. And this just gives me more reason to hate you. So stay away from Toph. If any of us see you near her, you don't even want to know what we'll do." Katara says threateningly while the others just nod.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I would never, never hurt her. If you ever decide to believe anything I say let it be that." I say before I start to walk over to the earth tent Toph made for me. Before I can get there it, along with all the other earth tents Toph made, collapse into heaps of rubble. We all quickly turn to the tent Toph was in as she pushes the rocks off of herself and stands up.

With a yell of frustration she kicks a rock and yells "Stupid,stupid stupid! You know what? If your gunna be like that then I'll go find a... a... a tree! Yea that's it! I'll go find a tree to sleep in! So take that!" she yelled at the pile of rubble "Oh god whats wrong with me? I'm talking to the ground! Oh yea, I have a creepy fire lord in my head that's whats wrong with me!" she says looking up at us as if she just realized we were watching her. She smiles sheepishly at us " hehe... your all gunna pretend you didn't see that okay? And I'm going to go find a tree. I'll be back later." she says sending one more glare at the pile of rocks at her feet and walking off into the forest.

"Wow" Sokka says. Katara nods sending a worried glance in the direction Toph went.

"He's really affecting her... And if she's right about the comet making it stronger then its going to get worse." Aang says.

"She can't even keep the tents up and the comet is a week away. Shes not eating and you can tell she's barely sleeping..." Katara finishes not wanting to say what we're all thinking. That Toph could die from this.

"We should try to find her and get her to eat something." I suggest. They all look at each other and nod.

"Fine we'll go look for her. But you are going to stay here." Katara snaps. I nod because there's no use arguing. Not that I don't want to go find her. Like hell I do. I just have to wait till they're gone then I can go find her and convince her to eat something, for her own good. As soon as the others were out of the clearing I set off. After walking for about ten minutes I found her laying under a tree with her eyes closed. Oh god. What happened? Is she okay? Oh god,oh god,oh god!

"Toph! Oh my god Toph are you okay?" I yell running over to her.

"Shut up Sparky I'm trying to sleep!" she says. Oh good.

"sorry I thought you might have fallen out of the tree and hurt yourself." I say sitting down beside her.

"I'm blind," she says waving her hand in front of her face "I can't climb trees." she finishes.

"Okay now I feel stupid..." I say rubbing the back of my neck.

"you guys seem to forget a lot."she says with a small laugh.

"so what did you do after you realized you couldn't climb the tree?" I ask.

" Well, the tree and I had a nice chat, and we came to the conclusion that I'm going completely crazy!" she says smacking her forehead. I just laugh.

"so why did you come find me?" she asks.

" we all came out here looking for you so we could take you back to camp to make you eat some food"

"no"

"oh come on please?" I beg.

"no its a waste of food if its just going to come back up in like half an hour." she states still laying down and crossing her arms over her chest in a 'that's final' gesture. I feel an evil grin spread across my face.

"fine then I'll just have to find one of your weaknesses."I say slyly. "I know you can't swim..."

"what so your going to drown me? then I wont be able to eat cuz I'll be dead," she answers matter of fact like.

"I wouldn't just throw you in. I would pick you up and jump in myself."

she shakes her head. "wouldn't work."

"Okay what if I..." I say as I jump gently on her keeping my weight on either side of her and start tickling her stomach. And trust me I have no clue why I did it, I just did. She burst out in a storm of giggles. "I'll stop if you agree to eat" I say.

"Okay okay! Just stop before you make me pee myself!" she says between giggles. I grin and move so I'm sitting beside her and wait for her to catch her breath.

"so I've found the world's greatest earthbenders one weakness and its tickles? Wow who would've guessed that?"

"Oh shut up Sparky. And you better not tell anyone you jerk" she says, not rudely, still laying on the ground giggling. I laugh

"don't worry I won't tell, as long as we go back to camp like now..." I say getting up.

"let me guess, Katara told you to stay away from me and that you weren't aloud to come look for me?" she asks.

I nod "yea"

"fine lets go, I am kinda hungry.." I reach out my hand to help her up,doubting she would take it, and was surprised that she actually did. Once we make it back to camp I heat up some of the stew Katara made earlier with my bending and hand it to her.

"thanks" she mumbles as she starts eating as I sit down beside her. Wow she must be really hungry if shes eating that fast. She stops eating for a second and looks up in my direction. " you know I don't hate you or blame you right?" I know shes talking about what my father did to her.

"all the others do..." I say looking at the ground.

"that's because their all idiots who can't tell the difference between an crazy old man who's trying to take over the world and a not so old not crazy nice person." she says. I look up at her in surprise. Did she just call me nice?

"nice?" I question.

" yea nice." she nods taking another bite of the stew.

" I've been trying to kill the avatar for who knows how long and you just called me nice?" I ask in disbelief.

" your on our side now though and no matter how long you've been trying to kill him at least you came to your senses now rather than later. And either way your probably my best friend here because at least I'm not the only outcast now." she says finishing her stew. Best friend? Did i just hear her right?

"Best friend? Out of all people you should hate me most!" I exclaim,

"well I don't hate you. And yea best friends... that is if you want to be... y-you don't have to... you know what never mind it was stupid..." she says... blushing? Shes blushing? still blushing she looks away from me to glare at the ground.

"yea I want to." I say

"what?" she finally looks at me.

"yea I want to be best friends." I say smiling. Who ever says that blind peoples eyes can't show emotions are total lairs because I swear her eyes lit up along with the rest of her face as she smiled brightly up at me. And to see that smile on her face made me happy, and to have her smiling like that at ME made me even happier.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys :D Okay so I know the whole Best Friends thing was kind of cheesy but i think it was kind of cute and after a looong debate with myself i decided to put it in cuz i needed something to start the toko or zoph or what ever you want to call stuff :D <strong>


	7. A Dark Past Chapter 7

**A Dark Past **

**Chapter 7**

***Toph's POV***

God I hate flying. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I don't even remember how I managed to get roped into this mess. Well okay I do but its a long story. Long story short, not to long after Zuko said he was my best friend Katara and the boys came back Katara yelled at Zuko For a bit, I stepped in and told her to shut her trap before running to the nearest bush to throw up, then Suki popped up outta no where with Haru and Teo and a huge story that I didn't really listen to on how she found us and then after she and Sokka sucked face for a bit then someone decided that we were gunna go to Ember Island to train and relax until the comet came. Which brings us back to now with me clinging to the side of Appa's saddle, Zuko sitting beside me, Sokka and Suki once again making out, Aang and Katara up front , Teo in his little glider thing and Haru sitting grumpily on my other side. "are we there yet?"I moan.

"yup." Zuko replies.

" WooHoo! If I didn't feel like I was going to hurl right now I would be doing a happy dance." I say smiling he laughs and pokes me in the side, his stupidly discreet way of tickling me. I can't help it and I let out a giggle before clamping my mouth shut. "screw holding on! You gunna get it now!" I say as I jump at him and punching his arm.

"Ow! Okay this means war!" he semi laughs semi shouts and pokes me in the stomach then in the arm.

I'm about to punch him when Appa swoops down to land, the sudden movement makes me lose my balance and I fall backwards into Haru's lap who with an angered yell of " Ewww! what the hell!" he over tightly grabs my arm and roughly pushed me into Zuko's ready arms.

I can feel Appa land and Katara and Aang climb back to where we are and where Zuko's yelling at Haru. "What the hell man! Look at what you did to her arm!" Zuko yells gently holding my arm in view.

Before Haru answers I ask "whats wrong with my arm?"

"Toph! Did Zuko do that to your arm?" Katara accuses.

"Everyone just Shut up!" I yell. "Zuko whats wrong with my arm?" I ask.

He points at Haru "when he grabbed your arm when you fell and pushed you away he bruised it"

I just laugh. "you seriously think a bruise matters to me?" I laugh even harder "worse has happened." I say referring to what the fire lord had done to me. But then remembering how bad he feels about that I quickly say "and none of which was your fault" and then I poke him in the stomach. "ha! I win! Now can I pleeeease get off of Appa and reunite with my one and only true love,the ground!" I ask.

"oh we wouldn't even dream of keeping you two away from each other." Zuko says jokingly. And with that I jump to the ground. To my disappointment its not the ground I love. Its sand. I sit down on my butt with a thud and pick up a handful of sand and let it run through my fingers.

"this is sand. I can't see a thing in sand." I say pouting.

"oh come on Toph its a beach! And speaking of beaches what do you say about having a..." Sokka pauses for dramatic effect "BEACH PARTY!" he yells as he starts running toward the beach with all the others, except Zuko, yelling in agreement and running after him.

"Come on Toph, it'll be fun!" Zuko says grabbing my hand to pull me up. I let my hand dangle limply from his

"No it wont." I say.

"Oh yea. Sand and water equals real blindness. Fine then I can show you the house and you can have first picks on rooms." he says tugging on my arm.

"No its fine you go have fun." I say pulling my hand out of his.

"but-" he starts but I cut him off.

"Go. I can feel harder ground up there by the house and what I'm guessing is a jungle and I need to go practice bending anyway... and I kind of want to do that on my own..." I finish lamely knowing he would want to come. Truthfully I can't bend anymore. My bending is completely gone.

I can slightly feel him nod "okay... have fun... come get me when your done and we can spar." he says hopefully. I can tell by his voice that he knows somethings wrong. I've only known him him for a little while, so how does he know me so well? I nod and get up and head towards the jungle. As soon as I'm on solid ground I head into a clearing in the jungle where I can't hear the others down at the beach. I sit in the middle on the clearing and dig my fingers into the dirt. I can't let him get close. I can't let him get any closer to me. I can't feel for him. I just can't. It would be a weakness. I can't let anyone close to me. Can't let my emotions take over,they would only make me weak. Weaker than I already am. I need to start distancing myself from the others. And when the avatar saves the world I can go my own way. Travel the world on my own. I whip my head around when I hear a twig snap. "who's th-" I'm cut of by a searing pain in my chest and being thrown across the clearing into a tree.

*Zuko's POV*

As Sokka is presenting his sand monster/Suki sculpture an explosion of blue erupts the jungle. All at once everyone looks towards the jungle where the explosion came from.

"how did Azula find us so fast?" Sokka asks running to get his boomerang.

"I have no... Oh god! Toph!" I shout.

"what?" they all ask at the same time with questioning faces.

"Toph! She went into the jungle where the ground was harder so she could practice bending!" I yell. realization dawn on their faces and without a second thought we all start running into the jungle to where the explosion happened.

*Toph's POV*

I hear a menacing laugh and suddenly I know that my attacker is Azula and that she hit me with lightning... so how am I still alive, and oddly feeling better than I had in weeks? Out of shear habit I jump into a bending stance and shift my foot to pull up a pillar of earth under Azula who I can now feel standing across the clearing. I know nothings going to happen,considering I lost my bending,and that I'll probably be dead in less than a couple of seconds but to my surprise a pillar of earth DOES rise up under Azula and sends her flying into a tree with a loud thud.

"You little Earthbending runt! I'll kill you for that!" Azula yells at me as she gets up.

"Good luck with that!" I yell back still in my fighting stance. " Your father couldn't even kill me! So what makes you think you can?" I shift my foot and throw some boulders at her. She dodges the first three but by the way she stumbles a bit I can tell one must have at least clipped her.

"My father is not as strong as I am which is why I will make a better ruler of the Firenation!" she yells while shooting fire at me.

"Badmouthing daddy now are we? How rude of you." I laugh. Then in idea hits me. If when Azula hit me with lightning the first time gave me back my bending then what will hitting me a second time do? Would i be even more powerful? Its worth a shot. " since you think your so good I'll give you a free shot. I'll stand here and wont move and you can get your biggest most powerful bolt of lightning and hit me. Right here" I point at my heart. "right in my heart."

*Zuko's POV*

As we enter the clearing We see Azula getting up yelling "you little Earthbending runt! I'll kill you for that!" not on my watch she wont! I can see the others all getting ready to jump in to the fight just like I am when we hear Toph's reply that freezes us all in our places.

"good luck with that! Your father couldn't even kill me! So what makes you think you can?" she bends some boulders at Azula one of which happens to hit her shoulder.

"My father is not as strong as I am which is why I will make a better ruler of the firenation!" my sister yells back and bending a fire tornado at Toph who easily dodges.

"Badmouthing daddy now are we? How rude of you." Toph laughs. The next thing she says makes everyone visibly stiffen and makes me want to be sick. " since you think your so good I'll give you a free shot. I'll stand here and wont move and you can get your biggest most powerful bolt of lightning and hit me. Right here" she points at her heart. "right in my heart." I see Azula's eyes sparkle and her evil grin widen at the chance to hurt Toph.

"Toph no!" I yell as Azula fires a huge bolt of lightning right at Toph's heart.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! sorry it took so long... i formatted this chap all on my own(im really proud of myself lol :D ) so i hope its okay... thx for reading... this might be the last chap i post deepending on what you guys think. so should i keep going of cancel it? its up to you guys so R&amp;R with ur oppinions on what i should do... thx... oh and i still dont own ALTA just saying :) bye bye for now!<p> 


	8. A Dark Past Chapter 8

**A Dark Past Chapter 8**

***Toph's pov***

I braced myself so I won't go flying when the blow that I know will come any second hits.

"Toph no!" I hear Zuko yell. Why's he here? I feel a sharp pain in my chest. Oh god it hurts so much I want to scream but I can't show weakness. The pain only lasts a second before its gone and I feel amazing. I laugh.

"Thanks for that." I say smiling. I can feel her step back in disbelief.

"wha-what are you? W-why are you not dead?" she stutters. I take a step towards her and she takes another back.

"Why would I be dead?" I ask with fake innocence.

"You should be dead! I hit your heart! Even if I didn't hit your heart you should be dead!" she yells.

"I guess I'm just special." I say. I can tell that I totally freaked her out when I feel her turn and run into the jungle probably to where her war balloon or whatever she got here on is. "hey wait! you wimp!" I yell after her. I'm about to turn around when something large and warm bumps into me and wraps its arms around me almost knocking me over.

"Oh god Toph I thought you were going to die!" Zuko says. I was right his hugs are warm. I feel drops of water drop on me and I feel him begin to shake as a wrap my arms around him to.

"Me die? Never! Is it raining?" I ask.

"No... Zuko's...crying..." Katara says coming up to us with the rest of the gang. Zuko crying? You have got to be kidding me.

"Pft. Why would you be crying you idiot?" I ask pulling away from him so I can punch him in the arm.

"We all are..." Zuko says pulling me closer. Why would they be crying?

"Okay now your all idiots. Why are you guys crying?" I ask again.

"We though you were going to die!" Katara says.

"Yea I guess that is a crying matter considering Twinkle Toes over there still needs a teacher!" I say. I push away from Zuko even though I don't really want to but if I don't I swear he might suffocate me! "get off of me unless your trying to kill me yourself by cutting off my air ways!"

"Sorry..." he mumbles taking a step back.

"Toph, we wouldn't be sad about that! We would be sad because we lost someone in our family, some one we love." Katara says. I stiffen at the word love.

"don't say that!" I growl at her taking a step away from them.

"don't say what?" Aang asks.

"Love. Don't say you love me." I say in a low voice.

"What? Why not?" Katara questions.

"Because love only makes you weak! When you love someone your always watching their back! And that's the perfect time for someone to come stab yours! People always say that love will conquer all and that it will bring happiness! But it wont! In the end all it can do is hurt you! So don't say you guys love me. Don't make me weak! I refuse to be weak! I wont let anyone make me weak. Because when your weak all you can do is get hurt..." I yell backing farther and farther away from them into the jungle.

"Toph wait!" someone yells. I don't care who it is. I turn and run into the jungle running as far as I can. Leaves and twigs hit me as I run. I can feel my forehead start to bleed after I get hit by a particularly strong branch. But I don't care. I don't care as long as I can get as far away as possible from the ones who love me. From the ones I love but don't want to love. From the ones who make me weak.

* * *

><p>Okay so i know its a short chapter but i just wanted you guys to know that im not giving up! thanks to the people (you know who you are :) ) who encouraged me to keep going! i hope you liked! talk to you next time! bye bye!<p>

-GreenNatureGirl


	9. Authors Note

*Authors Note*

It took a lot of thought and consideration to finally decide what to do with this story... in the end I have decided to discontinue this story for the time being. I will eventually finish but I just don't have the time to right now and I want to work on my other story. Thank you for taking time to read this and my story.


End file.
